Tag: Free press

Will The Scales of Justice Tip in Assange’s Favor?

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The date for the two-day Appeal Hearing for Julian Assange has been set for July 9 and 10, 2024.

Supporters are asked to attend outside the courthouse for these two days at The Royal Courts of Justice, on The Strand, London. WC2A 2LL, 8:30am, July 9 and 10, 2024. Let’s show the UK and the US that we are not going to allow Julian Assange’s human rights to continue to be diminished. Our free speech and the ability for our press around the world to function in an effective way are on the line.

Justices Jeremy Johnson and Victoria Sharp will again be presiding over Assange’s case during this hearing. Assange has been granted the right to appeal on two of nine requested grounds. First, that his extradition was in line with his free speech rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, and secondly that he might be prejudiced against because of his nationality, meaning he is not being given his First Amendment protections because he is not an American.

Judges Named for Assange Appeal

Stella Assange’s latest Substack on The Fight to Save Her Husband: https://stellaassangeofficial.substack.com/p/we-have-a-new-hearing-date?r=1dphgx&triedRedirect=true

“He lost his liberty on the 20th of December, 2010, and that was exactly a week after WikiLeaks started publishing Cablegate. He was initially in prison for 10 days, then under house arrest, then in the Embassy for almost 7 years, and now he’s been in a high security prison for over 5 years. As time goes by, the embassy seemed like an eternity but the time that he’s spent in this high security prison, Belmarsh, is almost as long as he was in the embassy.”

The political support we seen has come from the grass roots. In Australia we’ve seen this translate into political action, so the Australian government for example up until this current administration was basically facilitating Julian’s persecution. But it was through this grass roots movement that this turned around and the current Prime Minister Albanese when he was running for the Labor Party, his platform was to find a solution to bring Julian home, and then once he was elected, he’s kept with that message. That’s come because it was politically feasible for him to do so, and that only comes from this bottom-up [grass-roots effort.] (Interview continues at link)

Assange Lawyer Jen Robinson on the Important Political Status and Implications of the Assange Case

An important summation on the status of the Assange Case by lawyer Jen Robinson concerning what American Presidential candidates have said and done, and how the Australian government is responding. Jen Robinson posts, “It is time to #FreeAssange. The Australian Prime Minister @AlboMP, government & people want this done The prosecution is risking First Amendment protections for all journalists – in the US & elsewhere. Time to end it.”

Assange Lawyer Jen Robinson on the Important Political Status and Implications of the Assange Case

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) urges President Biden to drop all charges against Julian Assange

“We urge the Court to uphold the fundamental right to free expression and protect the indispensable role of a free, independent media as the watchdogs of democratic societies.” – Baroness Kennedy on Julian Assange s upcoming hearing in the UK Courts. Human Rights Lawyers are United.

https://www.ibanet.org/IBAHRI-urges-US-President-Joe-Biden-to-drop-all-charges-against-Julian-Assange

https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/politics/39864-biden-must-drop-charges-against-assange-says-iba

This is a moving, passionate statement from French mathematician Cédric Villani just after visiting Julian Assange in Belmarsh prison. Listen to his message:

Cities For Assange

Noam Chomsky’s Witness Statement Read into the Record at Previous Assange Hearing

On the 30th of Sept 2020 a witness statement from Noam Chomsky (dated 12 Feb 2020) was read into the record of the UK hearing of a US extradition request for Julian Assange. The judge would not permit the witness to take the stand and speak for himself, ostensibly to “save time”. This is a reading of Noam Chomsky’s written statement. It begins by stating his long working history in academia, and his even longer list of honorary degrees, memberships and prizes. Then follows an extensive list of Professor Chomsky’s published works. By way of preamble, Professor Chomsky says: “I have been asked whether Julian Assange’s work and actions can be considered as “political”, a question I am informed is of significance to the extradition request by the United States for Mr. Assange to be tried for espionage for having played a part on the publication of information that the United States government did not wish to be publicly known…”

Article by Noam Chomsky in Declassified.

Things could have gone a different way if Jeremy Corbyn hadn’t been destroyed by a vicious media campaign. But today’s British authorities just take the orders – and Julian Assange is one of the victims.

The brutal reality of the US-UK ‘special relationship’

Independent Parliamentary Candidate Craig Murray Addressed the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva in March of This Year Regarding the Rights and Freedoms of Julian Assange.

A Few Words for Members of The Press

Assange supporters number in the millions worldwide. They are professionals, Moms and Dads, individuals, large professional organizations, intelligent, caring, resourceful and determined. All eyes are on the the press right now as to how they are going to report about Julian Assange. Is the media going to repeat the same misinformation and mischaracterizations, as it has in the past, or are members of the media going to do the right thing and stand up for Julian Assange and the future of free speech and journalism? The political stakes are getting higher every day as the public calls for their politicians to end the imprisonment of Julian Assange. The public outcry all over the world gets more numerous and louder in volume by the moment.

What side are you going to stand on this time?

What have we learned?

Are we going to join our voices and demand the freedom we all know Assange should have?

MayDay for Julian Assange

On By thinkcarebelieveIn Julian AssangeLeave a comment

MayDay. The world needs a hero right now. People are urgently standing up for their rights and freedoms, asserting their rights and using their voices. Despite the Biden Administration saying “journalism is not a crime,” the fate of our most award winning journalist in the world is in America’s hands, and America is not responding to the millions of voices and letters, emails and phone calls received daily clammoring for Julian Assange’s release from detention in a UK maximum security prison.

MayDay. If Julian Assange is successfully convicted, then any journalist in the world could be arrested for similar reasons using the Espionage Act, for printing anything the U.S. claims to be state secrets. It will become a new customary practice for the U.S. to impose its laws on anyone in the world, regardless of whether that person has ever been in the United States or not.

On May 20, 2024, people are gathering outside the Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand at 8 am London time, to hear the UK High Court’s decision whether to accept the (non) assurances given by the United States and extradite him immediately, to allow him to appeal, or to release him. The UK High Court asked the United States Department of Justice for assurances that Mr. Assange would have the protection of the First Amendment, would not be discriminated against due to his nationality and would not be given the death penalty. The response issued by the United States was that “a sentence of death will neither be sought nor imposed on Assange,” assuring that he will not be “tried for a death-eligible offense” and that Mr. Assange, an Australian citizen, can “raise and seek” a defense under the First Amendment, but cautioned that “a decision as to the applicability of the First Amendment is exclusively within the purview of the U.S. Courts.” (1)

The U.S. is not willing to assure Assange and his family of his free speech rights, but is instead saying that he is welcome to try to get protection from a U.S. court. Assange has already spent 5 years in detainment while an endless legal back and forth continues between the U.S. and the UK. Assange’s wife Stella responded with a statement,“The U.S. has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the first amendment if extradited,” she said. “The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family’s extreme distress about his future – his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in U.S. prison for publishing award-winning journalism. The Biden administration must drop this dangerous prosecution before it is too late.”(2)  

Numerous international organizations have spoken out against the America’s stand against giving journalist Julian Assange free press and human rights protections. Julia Hall from Amnesty International says that U.S. diplomatic assurances are inherently unreliable. It promises to do something and then reserves the right to break the promise, and “The strategy is to keep Assange detained as long as possible. It’s a kind of death by a thousand cuts.”(3)

The concern is that by imposing the Espionage Act, a U.S. law, on a non-American journalist that published on foreign soil, but then unwilling to give that same journalist U.S. free press First Amendment protections, the U.S. is showing prejudice based on nationality.

Even more concerning are the implications for journalism worldwide. If the U.S. is successful in an Assange conviction, it will alter the common practices of every journalist, and there will be many more arrests until every journalist complies with only printing state approved information. “What this diplomatic note really means:” Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton tweets out, “Any Publisher globally is fair game. No 1st Amendment protection. Publish and Perish.”(4)

Urgent calls from journalists worldwide are being made: “We the undersigned Europeans unions and associations of journalists, join the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in calling on the U.S. government to drop all charges against Julian Assange and allow him to return home to his wife and children. We are gravely concerned about the impact of Assange’s continued detention on media freedom and the rights of all journalists globally. We urge European governments to actively work to secure Julian Assange’s release.” Many world leaders have declared to the United States that Julian Assange should be given his freedom and that free speech must be upheld. Recently, the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, called for the immediate release of Julian Assange saying that he is hopeful that this will be achieved, because it would be an act of justice of the highest level. A good demonstration to the world that freedom of expression, demonstration, and freedom of the press are respected.

With the harshest stories of Assange put out by the media, painting him as someone not worthy of the respect of upholding his human rights, thereby manipulating public opinion negating any effort to challenge U.S. prosecution of this award-winning journalist. Whether it was out of the embarrassment they suffered, or to discourage any other journalist from doing investigative reporting on their war crimes, the U.S. was not open to hearing from any of those world leaders or international organizations. While all this goes on, Julian Assange sits in a 6’ x 12’ box for 23 hours a day (5), with only some books for companionship.

In June of 2022, the mother of Julian Assange, Christine made an impassioned plea for her son’s freedom. “I respectfully make my plea directly to the parties involved… after 11 ½ years in pre-trial detention, and with legal proceedings dragging on with no end in sight, it has become clear to all following that this case is political and requires a diplomatic solution. When people become very invested in winning at all costs, the collateral damage is truth, justice and humanity. I implore all sides to take a step back from the heat of the fight for a moment, and to reflect. I ask all sides to consider a diplomatic solution. Negotiating an end to conflict is a normal part of civilized existence, within a marriage, the boardroom, long-running legal cases, and disputes within nation states. In the spirit of bringing this to an end, both sides will need to give a little. Julian has been detained long enough to satisfy any needs for revenge from those pursuing prosecution. He has suffered enough to satisfy those wishing to make him a symbol for press freedom. I beseech those who say they really care about Julian to put his needs as a suffering human-being first. And I have faith that with good will on both sides a resolution can be reached. Thank you for hearing my plea.”

What has and hasn’t been covered of this whole story in the legacy media is a crime. What gets repeated is the same initial misleading misinformation painting Julian Assange as an errant hacker helping Manning steal government secrets, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is where the public has been done such a grave disservice by lack of truthful reporting in the media. The public has missed out on learning about the Assange family’s fight for Julian’s life, out of their love for him. But more importantly, because the media is not reporting this story accurately, most of the American public is being caught off-guard and unprepared for the fight to uphold their First Amendment rights in America. The world has missed out on this story, one that is so very important to our humanity, as human beings with hearts that beat. Claim humanity and fight for the freedom of Julian Assange.

1. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/united-states-provides-binding-assurances-to-the-united-kingdom-that-julian-assange-will-not-face-the-death-penalty-if-extradited

2. https://assangedefense.org/hearing-coverage/u-s-continues-its-pursuit-of-julian-assange/

3. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/07/the-us-diplomatic-assurances-are-inherently-unreliable-julian-assange-must-be-released/

4. https://twitter.com/GabrielShipton/status/1780705737959940164

5. https://twitter.com/Infrarot_Medien/status/1759916419112722844

5. https://twitter.com/Stella_Assange/status/1474726659806871553

What We Don’t Know About Julian Assange

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At a press conference recently, Whitehouse SPOX Karine Jean-Pierre (KJP) again deflected any comment about the imprisoned detainment of publisher/journalist Julian Assange when asked about him by a reporter in conjunction with a question about The Press Act, H.R. 4250, which was recently passed by Congress on January 22, 2024. The Press Act specifies to maintain the free flow of information to the public, by establishing appropriate limits on the federally compelled disclosure of information obtained as part of engaging in journalism, and for other purposes. The short description is the “Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act.” The term “covered journalist” mentioned in The Press Act means a person who regularly gathers, prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, investigates, or publishes news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public. The ACLU had this to say: “While the majority of states already have shield laws in place that protect journalists from compelled disclosure of their sources, the Press Act provides uniform protections to journalists across the country.”

The Press Act seems to be tailor-made to exonerate Julian Assange, the most award-winning journalist in the world, who has been detained in a UK high security prison for the last 5 years, while all attempts are made to win a second appeal. Julian won the first appeal, but then the US added more allegations, holding him in legal limbo while the UK High Court and the US Department of Justice bat the ball back and forth. SPOX KJP refused to comment, her words “journalism is not a crime” ringing hollow between the walls of the press room.

In order to be informed with the truth, and have some confidence that what we are being told is the truth, we need a truly free press that is not intimidated by a government threatening to imprison the entire world into not investigating or reporting government crimes. Our system was set up for the press to be free to investigate the inner workings of a government to promote governmental transparency, and with a clear understanding that governments exist to serve the people. News reporting was once a vocation with real integrity. As the fifth estate, reporters were known to be tenacious and were respected for their ability to be truthful. Sadly, public trust has diminished due to the MSM’s lack of courage and tendency to repeat government narratives.

If Julian Assange is the most award-winning journalist of our time, then why aren’t we hearing more positive things about him? Certainly someone who published information about U.S. war crimes, that brought wars to a complete end, would be heralded as a hero, right? Why have we only heard bad things about Assange in the media? Assange and WikiLeaks partnered with numerous major publications that published the same information at the same time, yet those publications were not prosecuted. The whole reason the Obama administration did not prosecute Assange was because it would have created a severe problem for The New York Times. If they went after Assange, they’d have to go after all the others too. The Trump Administration, however, namely Mike Pompeo, acting head of CIA at the time, as well as others targeted Assange and WikiLeaks, and made a plan to bring them to their demise. After this, the media, including his former partner news organizations savagely turned on Assange, despite having benefited so much from their collaboration.

If the precedent set by an Assange conviction endangers the very fabric of press freedoms, then why would the legacy media still be repeating false allegations saying Assange helped Chelsea Manning hack into U.S. computers or assisted with password cracking when the facts that those things never happened have long been established by the Chelsea Manning Trial. Mainstream Media keeps repeating it, ignoring the facts in evidence, just because the US government says it. This is a problem for our country and free speech, and is why we need to concern ourselves with making sure the free press can operate without fear or intimidation by any government.

Julian Assange is officially registered with the Department of Justice as a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) journalist/publisher (Registration number 7370) to provide briefings about the litigation to parties interested in the litigation and participating in public educational events about the litigation. He is not a hardened criminal, nor some kind of terrorist looking for secrets to hack. On the contrary, he is a humanitarian, a fighter for peace and truth and transparency in order to fight ignorance and protect the vulnerable. Assange is a gifted prodigy, and like so many whose brains work differently, are not easily understood by society, because they don’t fit into customary categories of societal norms. He may have been a mischievous hacker in his younger days, who got caught and slapped on the hand, but then began putting his skills to use for the betterment of humanity. He founded Suburbia Public Access Network, one of Australia’s first internet service providers and gave it away for free to community groups and educated them on how to use it.

In the course of his early hacking exploits, Assange saw things that were happening in the shadows and their implications for the future and he became concerned. He noticed an increasing public indifference to the escalating authority of government and diminishing rights of the people. An indifference not merely out of a distracted self-absorption, but public ignorance created by a media that increasingly followed the government directives to craft and repeat narratives, rather than report truthfully based on research and investigative journalism. Some of the dark secrets he stumbled across compelled him to donate his considerable computer skills to Australian police to help them catch online child predators in the 1990s. He “assisted in relation to two investigations. His role was limited to providing technical advice and support [and] to assist in the prosecution of persons suspected of publishing and distributing child pornography on the internet. Mr Assange received no personal benefit from this contribution and was pleased to be in a position to assist.”

https://theage.com.au/national/victoria/assange-helped-our-police-catch-child-pornographers-20110211-1aqnl.html

Following the WikiLeaks publication of the Collateral Murder video which showed the violent U.S. helicopter strike of unarmed civilians in Iraq including two Reuters journalists, all eyes went to the United States. Soon after, helicopter and drone strikes stopped and the war in Iraq ended. Another way Assange’s work helped the world was when the diplomatic cables were published by WikiLeaks and others, revealing that two subcontractors hired by the U.S. were caught paying for local child “dancing boys” to come in and entertain the men. The Afghan Interior Minister was panicking over the exposure of the story and soon resigned, followed by the enforcement of tighter restrictions and oversight.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/02/foreign-contractors-hired-dancing-boys

Assange and Wikileaks were of service to Australians by publishing the secret draft of the massive Transpacific Partnership trade deal (TPP). The TPP was revealed to allow multi-national corporations to influence Australia’s control over their own pharmaceutical products and medical devices favoring them over Australian products. Having this information was very empowering for the people. The Australian public and organizations could then be able to challenge its threats to Australian sovereignty, legal rights, health care & the environment.

https://theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/11/pacific-trade-deal-raises-fears-over-future-of-pharmaceutical-benefits-scheme

It is not unreasonable for transparency of government information made available for the public to lead to government accountability and allows the public to make changes in their government. It was not a welcome thing for governments, but was an empowering force for the people. WikiLeaks collaboration with hundreds of international media partners was a pioneering form of journalism. They published source documentation alongside their articles for public verification in large datasets. They were tough on censorship and believed in strong adversarial journalism to keep governments honest. The innovations Assange and WikiLeaks implemented formed a model that has been copied by media organizations all over the world. When governments become embarrassed that their reckless behavior is made public, what should happen is that the problems are addressed, and change occurs. It has become clear that the U.S. government needs this kind of intervention, because, as Whitehouse SPOX Karine Jean-Pierre stated, “journalism is not a crime.”

What The Assange Case Means for the Integrity of Journalism

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It’s hard to paint WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange as a family man, so much cloudy characterizations and intrigue have been crafted by the media for public consumption. Much of it has been very far from the truth. Is he unkind to cats? Was he a poor houseguest in the Ecuadorian Embassy? The truth is that Julian Assange is a married man with a beautiful wife dedicated to his freedom and two sons, ages five and six. Like many of us, the importance of the survival of our families has become prominent in our values. Stella describes how she helps Julian’s mental health, “Julian has been in a high security prison for almost five years. I try to keep him connected to the day to day. I try to keep him connected to the reality outside, because if it becomes too much about those prison walls, then it’s easy to get lost.”

U.S. President Joe Biden recently told reporters that the U.S. is considering Australia’s request asking to release Julian Assange from charges which have caused his detention for potential extradition to the United States for trial. This had been a contentious topic for the U.S., whenever asked, they have typically referred people to the U.S. Department of Justice. But now that it has been signaled that there are diplomatic talks going on, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated yesterday that “that is a good way to try to get me to comment on extradition matters, but I’m going to refrain from doing so, I would refer you to the Department of Justice.” Personally though, Spokesman Miller, tweeted from his personal Twitter account in 2019, that the allegations in the U.S. indictment against Assange was “Dangerous and probably unconstitutional. DOJ doesn’t get to decide who is deserving of first amendment protections and who isn’t. There’s a reason we wouldn’t charge this in the Obama administration.”

Being that it has become a tradition for truth to get out to the public through whistleblowers such as U.S. Army Intelligence Officer Chelsea Manning, through news publications such as The Washington Post, The New York Times and WikiLeaks, the question of Assange’s role in Manning’s information being made public has come front and center. Did Julian Assange really help Chelsea Manning crack passwords, hack into government computers or cover her tracks as the U.S. claims?

“She already had authorisation [to access the datasets].” Computer forensic expert Patrick Eller told the UK Court in 2020. Allegations that Julian Assange attempted to help former Manning crack a password and leak classified material anonymously do not fit with the evidence. He states that “Merely logging into a different local user account on the computer (such as ftp user) would not anonymise Manning at all because the IP address of the computer would remain the same regardless of what user account is in use.” “There was no evidence that Manning had attempted to download these documents anonymously and no indication that she was trying to crack the ftp user account password,” said Eller.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252489645/Forensic-expert-questions-US-claims-that-Assange-conspired-to-crack-military-password

The allegation that Assange tried to help Manning remain anonymous has no supporting evidence. The U.S. is trying to convict on baseless allegations. There is no evidence that Manning and Assange spoke prior to Manning uploading her whistleblower information to WikiLeaks secure site. In her book, READEME.txt: A Memoir, Manning writes: “I called switchboards at The Washington Post and The New York Times, trying to get transferred to a reporter who would understand what I was offering them. I reached one at the Post, and we talked briefly, I left a message with my Skype number at the Times, but I never heard back. I said only that I worked in Defense. I tried to get them to understand. What I have is everything about two wars, I said over the phone. This is what asymmetric warfare looks like, uncut; this is the whole thing. I wanted this information published in a widely read outlet that could defend itself. But I wasn’t getting anywhere.”

If the U.S.’s allegations are refuted by the facts of the Chelsea Manning trial, then why does the U.S.’s indictment carry any viability with the UK High Court? The UK High Court has asked the U.S. to give assurances that it will give Assange his first amendment rights, will not prejudice against him because of his nationality and will not attach the death penalty with any additional charges before it considers extraditing him. But this has gone on for 5 years with Assange being held in solitary confinement in conditions assessed by two UN Special Rapporteurs on Torture as “He continues to be detained under oppressive conditions of isolation and surveillance, not justified by his detention status.” Assange has been in ghastly conditions, definitely an overkill for someone who is not a violent criminal.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2019/11/un-expert-torture-sounds-alarm-again-julian-assanges-lifemay-be-risk

Is holding someone in legal limbo indefinitely without charge, a breach of process? The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute condemns the mistreatment of Julian Assange and issued this statement: “The IBAHRI is concerned that the mistreatment of Julian Assange constitutes breaches of his right to a fair trial and protections enshrined in the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which the UK is party. It is deeply shocking that as a mature democracy in which the rule of law and the rights of individuals are preserved, the UK Government has been silent and has taken no action to terminate such gross and disproportionate conduct by Crown officials. As well, we are surprised that the presiding judge has reportedly said and done nothing to rebuke the officials and their superiors for such conduct in the case of an accused whose offence is not one of personal violence. Many countries in the world look to Britain as an example in such matters. On this occasion, the example is shocking and excessive. It is reminiscent of the Abu Grahib Prison Scandal which can happen when prison officials are not trained in the basic human rights of detainees and the Nelson Mandela Rules.”

https://www.ibanet.org/article/C05C57EE-1FEE-47DC-99F9-26824208A750

With no governing global ruling body exercising its authority over the United States State Department, Julian Assange seems to be entrapped in a web of endless legal entanglements, by design. With him, is the future survival of press freedoms and journalism, because if the U.S. is successful in its attempt to prosecute a foreign journalist publishing on foreign soil, then all journalists all over the world are in jeopardy of being arrested for publishing truths that the public needs to know, but governments don’t want them to know. An Assange conviction could mean that journalists everywhere only publish what governments allow them to publish. It has far-reaching ramifications for the survival of the first amendment for public and press. Meanwhile Julian Assange’s survival depends on the public to unite in one voice and call for his freedom. Stella Assange: “This just has to stop. Right now, he’s in a very precarious situation where his health is in decline and that in itself is perhaps the greatest risk.” For Assange, massive public outcry cannot come a moment too soon.

What The Assange Case Means for the Integrity of Journalism

A Congressional Resolution to Freeing Julian Assange

On By thinkcarebelieveIn Activism, Articles and Press Releases, Julian AssangeLeave a comment

The prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has come front and center in a growing number of minds of many Americans because they feel he is being unfairly persecuted and because of the implications for free speech, the First Amendment and the future of journalism. The precedent set would allow governments to cross the line of First Amendment protections of citizens and journalists anywhere in the world.

Assange’s innovations in transparency in journalism publishing verifiable evidence of the story was so novel that he was scrutinized by the U.S. government and the news media for breaking the norm of telling narratives to the public and relying on public trust for public belief in whatever they are told. Things came to a head when WikiLeaks published a trove of evidence of the CIA’s secret practices of spying on the Americans through their smart devices. This embarrassed then Secretary Mike Pompeo so badly that he held a press conference and labeled WikiLeaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service” and went to work plotting the destruction of WikiLeaks and Assange, whether it was legal or not.

Assange was first charged under the Trump Administration with one count under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) for allegedly helping U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning access Defense Department computers without authorization. When in fact, it was established at Manning’s trial that she already had her own full security access and needed no further assistance. 17 charges under the Espionage Act were then added. No other publisher had ever been prosecuted under the Espionage Act prior to those 17 charges. Mr. Assange could face up to 175 years behind bars, effectively a death sentence, for these charges and it was admitted by the U.S. prosecution that it cannot rule out the death penalty. The Biden Administration has not shown any interest in resolving the situation.

Last November, Representative Thomas Massie, Representative Jim McGovern and Senator Rand Paul introduced a bi-partisan letter to President Biden urging him to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange. The 16 signatory are James P. McGovern, Thomas Massie, Rashida Tlaib, Eric Burlison, Ilhan Omar, Paul A. Gosar, Ayanna Pressle, Marjorie Tayler Greene, Pramila Jayapal, Matthew Rosendale, Greg Casar, Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman, Jesús G. “Chuy” Garcia, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rand Paul.

The letter states: “We believe the Department of Justice acted correctly in 2013, during your vice-presidency, when it declined to pursue charges against Mr. Assange for publishing the classified documents because it recognized that the prosecution would set a dangerous precedent. We note that the 1917 Espionage Act was ostensibly intended to punish and imprison government employees and contractors for providing or selling state secrets to enemy governments, not to punish journalists and whistleblowers for attempting to inform the public about serious issues that some U.S. government officials might prefer to keep secret.” The letter further states: “It is the duty of journalists to seek out sources, including documentary evidence, in order to report to the public on the activities of government. The United States must not pursue an unnecessary prosecution that risks criminalizing common journalistic practices and thus chilling the work of the free press. We urge you to ensure that this case be brought to a close in as timely a manner as possible.”

House Resolution 934 sponsored by Paul Gosar, was introduced on 12/13/2023 and expresses the sense that regular journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment, and that the United States ought to drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange. Co-sponsors on this important Resolution are James P. McGovern, Thomas Massie, Marjorie Tayler Greene, Anna Paulina Luna, Eric Burlson, Jeff Duncan, Ilhan Omar, Clay Higgins, Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush.

With ten co-sponsors, the resolution needs 10 more to go for a vote. Americans can contact their Representatives at 202-224-3121 (House Switchboard) and ask them to co-sponsor and vote. This is the democratic system at work with the people communicating with their Representatives, and those Representatives gathering to vote and make the proper changes reflecting the voice of the people. It is up to the people to utilize that system and make their voices heard and have a better chance of being heard in an election year. Assange’s case is paramount to the future survival of free speech and upholding the First Amendment. We cannot have any healthy debate or be informed about our governments if the U.S. is attempting to arrest journalists because it doesn’t like what they are publishing, whether they are American citizens or not.

Assange’s wife Stella states: “What’s being done to Julian is by design – it’s there to intimidate. To intimidate regular citizens but also to intimidate journalists, people who are in the profession. It’s there to give an example of authoritarian abuse to the world”

How Julian Assange Shocked the Media

On By thinkcarebelieveIn Articles and Press Releases, Julian AssangeLeave a comment

Discrepancies in facts create disagreements which can lead to wars. The famous quote by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange applies here: “If wars can be started by lies, then peace can be started with truth.” Following the release of the famous Collateral Murder video of 14 years ago, showing U.S. forces gunning down civilians in Iraq, the fact is that drone and helicopter strikes ceased, and the war in Iraq soon ended. Julian Assange has been painted by the media as endangering lives, when in fact the opposite is true.

What Assange did was so new, publishing verifiable documented evidence of what is really going on, that it seemed a radical departure to the traditional narratives and stories told by news outlets relying on public trust and belief in what they are being told. Politicians and the media reported that Assange put lives at risk by publishing source documentation such as war logs and diplomatic cables from whistleblower Chelsea Manning, but the United States admitted in court that there have been no cases where someone has been harmed by WikiLeaks publication of Manning’s disclosures. Witnesses attest that Assange did redact all harmful information and in fact was criticized for over-redacting. Reportedly, anything that was not redacted was already publicly published through other sites such as cryptome.org.

Assange’s innovations in journalism opened up a whole new practice of public awareness and scrutiny using discernment and critical thinking skills. The public began to look for evidential proof of the stories they were being told, and many of them didn’t mind doing the research for themselves. Julian Assange revolutionized journalism by making the source documentation available to the public alongside articles he wrote and lectures he gave. He showed the proof and let the public look it over and see the truth for themselves. When the truth is clear because the facts are made available for all to see, transparency ends disagreements and promotes cooperation between groups and nations.

Assange is a humanitarian and he innovated more ways to solve problems and promote peace. He created a safe and secure way for whistleblowers to upload files because when governments behave recklessly, it has become a tradition for whistleblowers to come forward and disclose information to the public that might cause a government embarrassment. But transparency can lead to a government that operates with integrity and accountability. We cannot continue forward in any healthy or productive manner if a government is censoring the free speech of the public and arresting members of the free press.

What Assange did for the world was provide a way for the public to be sure of the truth, on the basis that a public has a right to know how their government is behaving on their behalf, and public knowledge of knowing what the facts are is part of that. The only benefit to selling narratives and confusing the facts is to keep wars going endlessly so more money can be made from the sale of weapons and the extraction of more taxpayer money.

Unfortunately, the U.S. government hasn’t been able to overcome its embarrassment over the exposure of their conduct in war zones, and opted to criminalize Assange’s work. In a recent interview with Pat Kenny, Assange’s wife Stella explains, “The whole indictment is a set up because he is being accused of doing what journalists do every day, receiving information from Chelsea Manning, processing it, and making it public, and that is described as a criminal conspiracy and criminal act.”

The Tremendous Effort to Save Julian Assange’s Life

On By thinkcarebelieveIn Wise WordsLeave a comment

PRESS RELEASE

March 8, 2024

For Immediate Release

THE TREMENDOUS EFFORT TO SAVE THE LIFE OF JULIAN ASSANGE

The two-day hearing in the UK High Court for Australian journalist Julian Assange’s last appeal was on February 20 and 21, 2024. The two judges presiding asked for additional information and additional time. Their decision could come any moment. Assange did not attend for health reasons. The decision is to allow further appeal through the European Court of Human Rights, or extradite him to the United States.

It is important to note that Assange has not been formally charged, and is only being held on remand to a potential extradition to the U.S. to face the accusations in the U.S. indictment, a total of 18 charges amounting to 175 years in prison on an old U.S. law called the Espionage Act. On the first day, the defense made a point to clarify that Chelsea Manning is a whistleblower/leaker, and Julian Assange/WikiLeaks the journalist/publisher. The whistleblower had been an service member of the U.S. military and has already been punished for breaking confidentiality. As a member of the press and a non U.S. citizen, Julian Assange had no confidentiality agreement with the U.S. government. The accusations in the U.S. indictment suggest Julian Assange assisted Manning to crack a password, but Manning clearly already had access and clearance through her work, so no hacking was needed. C.E. Manning was on leave when she initially spoke and gave documents to more than one news organization before uploading to WikiLeaks secure upload. She did not speak to Julian Assange until well beyond the transfer of information.

The misstatement was made that people were harmed by what WikiLeaks published, but at C.E. Manning’s trial, U.S. admitted in actuality that no one was harmed. Accusations that Assange did not redact names are not true. Several witnesses were present when Assange redacted thousands of names. Redactions were not made in the diplomatic cables, because they were already out in the public venue published in their entirety on Cryptome.org.

The defense also brought out that the head of the CIA, Mike Pompeo planned the kidnapping and murder of Julian Assange. The defense made the point that extraditing Assange to the U.S. would be putting him in the hands of the same people who plotted his murder. It was also mentioned that the CIA illegally spied on Assange, through a company called UC Global, learning his legal defense strategy while he was in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

The importance of this case is what it means to the future of journalism, free speech and press freedoms. If Julian Assange is extradited to the U.S. and successfully convicted, then the Espionage Act, a U.S. law that has never been used against a journalist before, could then be used to arrest any journalist in the world whom the U.S. state department deems has printed classified material, whether it is in the public interest, or not. It could also affect whether the First Amendment will protect the Free Speech of the Free Press, or not. The future jobs of journalists may be in jeopardy and many Assange supporters feel their right to know the truth will be at risk.

Stella Assange, wife of Julian, has been leading the heroic battle for her husband’s freedom. She is afraid he would not survive extradition in his fragile health, and doctors and two UN Rapporteurs on Torture agree. In addition, Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton who attended the 2024 State of the Union Address as a guest of Congressman Thomas Massie, expressed the wide concern that Julian Assange who’s health is delicate would not survive the extradition to the United States. Finally, it was admitted by prosecutors at Assange’s hearing that there is no assurance that the Eastern District of Virginia Court would not add the death penalty to the 175 years being held over his head.

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